Lewis Hamilton radio message in Spanish Grand Prix ‘alarming’, Martin Brundle claims

Hamilton appeared to suggest he felt he could not compete before producing his best performance of the season so far

Lewis Hamilton finished fifth at the Spanish Grand Prix (AP)

Martin Brundle believes that an “alarming” radio message from Lewis Hamilton during the Spanish Grand Prix revealed how little the Mercedes driver has been enjoying this season.

Hamilton produced his finest drive of 2022 in Barcelona, battling back from an early collision with Kevin Magnussen to fight up through the field for an eventual fifth-placed finish.

The seven-time world champion and Magnussen had taken contact on the opening lap of the race, with Hamilton forced to pit and re-emerging behind the rest of the race.

Soon after, Hamilton suggested on the radio that they should “save the engine if I was you guys”, and apologised to his team.

While what followed was far more encouraging for Mercedes and Hamilton as they close the gap in race pace to Ferrari and Red Bull, former F1 driver Brundle fears that the early concession that he may not be able to compete was reflective of Hamilton’s pessimism after a difficult opening stanza of the new season.

“Lewis’ contact with Magnussen on the opening lap surely cost him a chance of a spectacular result,” Brundle wrote on Sky Sports of Hamilton’s Spanish Grand Prix performance.

“He was 50 seconds behind the leader on lap two and 54 seconds at the end despite backing off by four seconds on the final tour.

“Lewis’ radio call after falling to the back of the field with a puncture, basically wanting to stop and ‘save the power unit mileage’, was alarming in that it gave us the true picture of how little he’s been enjoying this season.

“Presumably 65 laps later he was somewhat more satisfied after showing great pace.”

Hamilton is now sixth in the Drivers’ Championship standings, with George Russell nearly 30 points ahead of his Mercedes teammate in fourth in the standings.

Russell has generally fared better with Mercedes’ significant performance issues, and is the only driver on the grid yet to finish outside of the top-five at the first six races of the season.

The Monaco Grand Prix this weekend will provide a further look at the German team’s progress towards matching early front-runners Red Bull and Ferrari, with Hamilton a three-time winner on the streets of Monte Carlo.

Mercedes endured a tough weekend in the city-state last year, however, with the British driver only able to finish seventh and then colleague Valtteri Bottas failing to finish.